Mobile Phones in the Czech Republic

There are three main mobile phone operators in the Czech Republic -- O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

A fourth operator, U:fon, entered the Czech market in June 2008. Unlike the big three, who use a GSM network, U:fon uses a CDMA mobile network. This means that phones which work on the U:fon network don't work on other networks, and vice versa.

The following is a simple comparison of the various plans offered by the big three companies.

PREPAID OR CONTRACT? The first thing to do is to decide whether you are eligible for a plan or only a prepaid card.

Prepaids allow you almost instant access, require no paperwork and commit you to nothing. Contracts tend to offer cheaper rates in the long run but are not as easy to get.

The lines between these options are becoming increasingly blurred, however, with companies offering tariffs that combine elements of the two.

PREPAID Getting started on a prepaid plan -- also known as "pay-as-you-go" -- is simply a matter of going into a store and selecting the package you want.

O2 offers eight prepaid plans. (O2 Felicia, listed on the English-language section of the O2 website, is no longer available.)

O2 Mix offers O2's cheapest rates -- 3.60 CZK per minute for calls and 1.20 CZK for SMS text messages -- providing you've added 400 CZK of credit to your account the month before. In other words, you're expected to add 400 CZK every month in order for the cheaper rates to apply. If this isn't the case, calls cost 6.20 CZK per minute and text messages cost 2.80 CZK -- still cheaper than most of O2's other prepaid rates.

Furthermore the period of this special offer depends on how much credit you have on your phone after activation. If you have less than 100 CZK, the offer lasts 45 days; from 100 CZK to 499 CZK the period is six months; and 500 CZK of credit gives you 12 months.

For a weekly fee of 19.00 CZK, the Twist Týden tariff allows you to call landlines and other T-Mobile numbers for 3.50 CZK per minute, to call other networks at 5.90 CZK per minute, and to send SMS text messages costing 1.90 CZK each.

Vodafone has done away with written contracts altogether, instead offering a choice between classic prepaid tariffs, and tariffs that require you to keep your phone credit topped up to a certain level.

CONTRACTS Since a monthly plan requires a contract, the conditions for obtaining one are a little stricter than for a pay-as-you-go phone.

To enter into a contract with O2, you need a rodné číslo (personal identification number), which rules out anyone who doesn't have Czech permanent residency or citizenship.

To enter into a contract with T-Mobile, you need a valid passport and either a long-term visa, a long-term residency permit, a permanent residency permit, or a bank statement or utility bill that shows you've been living in the Czech Republic for at least three months.

O2 offers a large range of tariffs, six of them under the Neon label.

The two cheapest are Neon SMS which is 300 CZK/month and includes 250 free SMSes, and Neon S (meaning "small") which costs the same but instead includes 40 minutes of free calls.

The tariffs range up to Neon XXL, which costs 3,900 CZK/month.

Otherwise O2 offers a range of Simple tariffs -- the Simple 240, Simple 600, Simple 980, Simple 1350 and Simple 1980 -- the number of which refers to the monthly fee in crowns (minus VAT).

As you'd expect, the larger the monthly fee you pay, the cheaper it is to make calls, which range down from 5.83 CZK/minute (O2 Simple 240) to 3.45 CZK/minute (O2 Simple 1980).

More traditionally, minute tariffs involve monthly fees and free minutes that can't be carried over into the next month, unlike credit tariffs.

T-Mobile has six types of minute tariff, ranging from the T30, which costs 226.10 CZK/month and includes 30 minutes of free calls, to the T1500, which, as the name implies, grants you 1,500 free minutes, at a cost of 4,462.50 CZK/month.